Stories We Tell Ourselves

The lecturer on Iceland: Past and Present talked briefly about whether Icelanders were descended from Vikings.

His position? It sorta depends on how you define “Viking”:

As dreaded warriors? Rapists and plunderers? Kidnappers? Then, no, not at all. Those guys did not colonize Iceland.

As any and all seafaring peoples from present-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, including peaceable farmers? Then, yes, for sure.

All right then, on to our next stop: the National Museum of Iceland.

And what’s this? Two analyses (DNA analysis of the human remains in ancient graves, and mitochondrial analysis of present-day Icelanders) show that about 80% of the original male colonists were from the Scandinavian countries.

And about 60% of the original female colonists were from the British Isles. Taken to Iceland, no doubt, by peaceable farmers.

Tom – Good questions. I think that being willing to ask might matter more than the answer we come up with. And accepting that our answers are likely self-serving will help us take them with a grain of salt.

The question, John, is not so much the DNA test as who does it. The CBC carried a story recently about an organization, in Quebec, I think, that provided authentic-looking Indigenous Membership cards, so that the card holders could flash it at a cash register and get out of paying sales tax. Applicants proved that they had Indigenous blood by taking a DNA test. The CBC chose three people who had all come from places like Russia and Africa, in this generation, so there was no possibility of them genuinely having Indigenous blood. But all three came back with 20% Indigenous! Someone was cooking the books…
Jim T